Geist Creates His Own Do-Not-Call List

average_cdn writes "Canadians looking to put a stop to pesky telemarketing calls before the federal government's do-not-call registry takes effect this summer have a new tool at their disposal. At IOptOut.ca, Canadians can enter their phone number and e-mail address and simply choose the organizations they would prefer not to hear from while the website generates a mass request that the user be added to those companies' do-not-call lists. The site, a beta version of which was launched yesterday, is the brainchild of University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist and features information on how to avoid telemarketing calls from more than 140 different companies and organizations. Mr. Geist said that iOptOut helps Canadians finish the job that the do-not-call registry failed to complete."

Well that's great

[Draped Crusader]

...for Canada!

Do not call

[TheRecklessWanderer]

I think I'll just stick to my never listed and currently unlisted phone number.

Farming

[ChatHuant]

Good way to collect active and not spam-trapped e-mail addresses, and maybe link them to phone numbers as well. As a company, I may not send mail or call the phone numbers Mr. Geist is so nicely forwarding to me, but what stops me from selling them to spammers? I don't have a direct relationship with the customer, so, AFAICT there is no legal issue.

Re:Very cool!

[waveman]

One thing I do is I say "Just a moment". Then I leave the phone off the hook for about ten minutes. This wastes their time quite effectively. I even had one of them get quite angry at me, which was good.

Re:Very cool!

[allanw]

Are you absolutely sure you're not getting any false positives there?

Re:Very cool!

[Jorophose]

For some reason people like to rage against telemarkerters...

But really now this is the most reasonable way to handle the situation if you don't want to be called back because management doesn't seem to understand the concept of "No thank you, I'm not interested.".

I've worked with telemarketers, and the stuff people do to them is rather crazy. It's not the grunts you want to bitch at, complain to the heads of the company.

Re:Very cool!

[CastrTroy]

If it's a real person, and they actually want to talk to you, they'll figure they got disconnected somehow and call right back.

Re:Well that's great

[Ron Harwood]

I haven't seen anything that says he's selling ads - can you point me at it?

Re:Very cool!

[Dunbal]

Because they hire almost anybody and minimum wage is better than NO wage.

Their turnover on employees is pretty damned high though. I don't know many "career telemarketers".

Re:Indeed, it's the company not the person

[mpe]

People always seem to "shoot the messenger" rather than the company doing the actual advertising.

How is the person being called ment to know who this company is? Giving the name, address and telephone number of the company concerned may not be part of the caller's script; they may have been trained to give misleading information and it's very unlikely that they will know the executives home phone numbers for either their own comapny or a "client".

Re:Very cool!

[porpnorber]

So vote for someone who will replace the minimum wage with a no questions asked universal basic income. There is no reason to collaborate in building a society that sucks to live in!